Neutron Moderation in the Oklo Natural Reactor and the Time Variation of alpha

Abstract

In the analysis of the Oklo (gabon) natural reactor to test for a possible time variation of the fine structure constant alpha, a Maxwell-Boltzmann low energy neutron spectrum was assumed. We present here an analysis where a more realistic spectrum is employed and show that the most recent isotopic analysis of samples implies a non-zero change in alpha, over the last two billion years since the reactor was operating, of Δα/α\geq 4.5\times 10^{-8} (6σconfidence). Issues regarding the interpretation of the shifts of the low energy neutron resonances are discussed.